Where I want to be…

How would you like to live in a town where there was no traffic, no sirens, no parking problems and no banks? For a girl who puzzled over how to use an escalator, that sounds like heaven to me. It’s no wonder I fell in love with this beautiful white cottage in the (very) rural town of Koringberg, South Africa. Conservation architect (and owner) Minky Lidchi transformed an existing run down house and rambling garden into a rural slice of paradise. It’s not every day that you see a stark white cottage dotted amongst the countryside of South Africa, which I think makes this house all the more special and unique. My favourite feature has got to be the white shutters over the front door. Oh yes, and it’s available to rent!

Can you just imagine yourself relaxing on the porch as the sun is setting with a good bottle of wine, listening to….nothing!?

Images 1 & 7 via HL South Africa; all the rest via iconVillas

Finishing touches…

I have to be honest and say that I don’t get women who say they don’t wear jewellery. Why not, I ask? To me, accessorising is as fundamental as putting on underwear before leaving the house. Even something as simple as a belt or a watch can make the world of difference to the overall look of an outfit. You can can go bold and dress them up or tone it down and keep them small and understated – it’s an aspect of my wardrobe that I definitely have the most fun with. And the best part about them? Accessories, like shoes, don’t care if you are having a ‘fat day’, they always fit and they always look good!

So how about you? Do you wear jewellery? Are you bold or understated? 

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Soaked!

This just in: our clever, magical heating engineer managed to get our boiler working again so we have hot water and heating for the first time in nearly a week! The very first thing I did was take a long hot shower (which was blissful in case you were wondering) but I am dreaming about having a hot soak in the tub (which doesn’t take over an hour to fill). Any one of these beauties below will do nicely…

Have you been without hot water for long periods of time? How did you cope?

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Finally some good news!

Where are the pictures of London you ask? Where indeed. Well we’ve been having a bit of this:

And some more of this:

And just when you are filled with a false sense of hope because you can see the sky a little bit, this happens some more:

Things have been a little woesome in our house lately but apart from the abysmal weather and lack of hot water, we have some very exciting things on the horizon (more about that later), in the meantime, a little something arrived from the postman last week…

This little guy has been awol since the beginning of February.

Of course celebrations ensued, vast quantities of food were eaten and several bottles of wine were opened. When our sore heads recovered, we got straight down to business and finally booked a much-needed holiday to Portugal. It will be my first time to Portugal and I am beyond excited!  Looks pretty darn amazing, doesn’t it?

Click on the image to go to its source.